Bougie

A thin cylinder of rubber, plastic, metal or another material that a physician inserts into or though a body passageway, such as the esophagus, to diagnose or treat a condition. A bougie may be used to widen a passageway, guide another instrument into a passageway, or dislodge an object. Bougies are available in a wide range of sizes and degrees of flexibility. They may consist only of a simple cylinder. The cylinder may be equipped with such devices as: (1) an inflatable balloon to apply pressure against obstructions or narrowed walls; (2) a gauge to measure the pressure applied by the balloon; (3) a wire that is positioned at the site of a stricture, blockage or another problem to guide other instruments into the passageway; (4) a channel through which dye can be injected so that a site can be identified on a fluoroscope and (5) a light to illuminate a passageway for examination. Bougies may be used to treat strictures and blockages in the esophagus, the intestines, the rectum, the anus, the ureters (the tubes that transport urine from the kidneys to the bladder) and the urethra (the canal that transports urine from the bladder to the outside). A stricture is an abnormally narrow section of a passageway while a blockage is an obstruction within a passageway. To remove an object lodged in the esophagus, a lubricated bougie may be used to dislodge the object and move it down into the stomach. The object then passes through the intestines. This procedure is feasible only if the object is unlikely to damage tissue as it moves through the intestinal tract. Bougies equipped with balloons may be used to eliminate both strictures and blockages in the esophagus. In a typical procedure, a lubricated bougie may be inserted under local anesthesia. When the bougie reaches the site of the stricture or blockage, the balloon is inflated. The pressure from the balloon then can widen a narrowed passageway. Bougies sometimes play a role in treating achalasia, a disorder in which there is abnormal function of nerves and muscles of the esophagus (swallowing tube) resulting in failure of the lowest-most part (lower esophageal sphincter) to open and allow passage of food. A bougie is used to stretch this sphincter. Bougies equipped with lights are sometimes used in surgery involving the colon, rectum, abdomen and chest to help physicians view and identify internal structures. "Bougie" is a French word meaning "candle." The French apparently derived the word from "Bugia," the name of a North African town that exported candles to France. Because a bougie resembles a candle, English-speaking physicians wrote it into medical lexicons to describe candle-shaped diagnostic and therapeutic instruments. It was an apt word, for such instruments originally consisted of waxed silk or cotton rolled into a cylinder. Today, the French word "bougie" can also mean "probe" and "sparkplug." Also, the English "word" bougie can sometimes be used to refer to suppositories like those inserted into the anus to treat hemorrhoids. Related terms include "bouginage" (also spelled "bougienage"), which refers to a procedure in which a bougie is used, and "bougie ŕ boule," which refers to a bulb-tipped bougie.

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A cylindrical instrument, usually somewhat flexible and yielding, used for calibrating or dilating constricted areas in tubular organs, such as the urethra or esophagus; sometimes containing a medication for local application. [Fr. candle]

- b. à boule (boo-zhe′a-bool′) a ball-tipped b..

- bulbous b. a b. with a bulb-shaped tip, some of which are shaped like an acorn or an olive.

- Eder-Pustow b. a metal olive-shaped b. with a flexible metal dilating system (for esophageal stricture).

- elastic b. a b. made of rubber, latex, or other similarly flexible material.

- elbowed b. a b. with a sharply angulated bend near its tip.

- filiform b. a very slender b. usually used for gentle exploration of strictures or sinus tracts of small diameter where false passages can be encountered or created; the entering end can consist of either a straight or spiral tip, and the trailing end usually consists of a threaded cylinder into which the screw tip of a following b. can be inserted.

- following b. a flexible tapered b. with a screw tip which is attached to the trailing end of a filiform b., to allow progressive dilation without danger of creating false passages.

- Hurst bougies a series of mercury-filled round-tipped tubes of graded diameter for dilating the cardioesophageal region.

- Maloney bougies a series of bougies similar to Hurst bougies but having cone-shaped tips.

- Savary bougies silastic tapered-tip bougies used over a guide wire in esophageal dilation.

- tapered b. a b. with gradually increasing caliber, used to dilate strictures.

- wax-tipped b. a long slender flexible b. with a wax tip, used for endoscopic passage into the ureter to confirm the presence of a calculus by scratching the surface of the tip with the sharp edges of the stone.

- whip b. a b. tapered to a threadlike tip at the end.

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bou·gie 'bü-.zhē, -.jē n

1) a tapering cylindrical instrument for introduction into a tubular passage of the body

2) SUPPOSITORY

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n.

a hollow or solid cylindrical instrument, usually flexible, that is inserted into tubular passages, such as the oesophagus (gullet), rectum, or urethra. Bougies are used in diagnosis and treatment, particularly by enlarging stricture (for example, in the urethra).

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bou·gie (boo-zheґ) [Fr. “wax candle”] a slender, flexible, hollow or solid, cylindrical instrument for introduction into a tubular organ such as the urethra or esophagus, usually to calibrate or dilate constricted areas.

Bougies: (A), Otis bougie а boule; (B), olive-tipped bougie; (C), filiform bougie.